Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday August 3, 1999
erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\
, adjective:
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.
In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours.
-- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997
The works of Baudrillard, Deleuze, Guattari and Virilio are filled with seemingly erudite references to relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, etc.
-- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense
Fantasy baseball, in its modern form, was born 30 years ago as a diversion played by a group of erudite baseball fans.
-- John Oudens, "Fantasy Baseball", New York Times, January 23, 2010
Erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, "out of, from" + rudis, "rough, untaught," which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for erudite
